I started out not enjoying this book - all the characters got on my nerves. I mean, all of them. Every single person. But…something about the story made me really want to keep reading. At the 50% mark, I almost stopped reading again - I don't want to drop spoilers, but I can say that I do not enjoy stories about human trauma or tragedy, unless it involves dragons or kings. Or perhaps vampires. But reading about semi-normal people suffering is not my idea of a good read. The strange thing is, once I got to the 50% mark, I started to kind of like the main protagonist. I wanted to root for her. So, I kept reading despite being very uncomfortable with where the story was going. I wouldn't call this book fine literature, but it was gripping, and I could not put it down. In the end, I did grudgingly come to love the main group of characters. This is a good book for a plane ride or a trip at the beach or any other time you feel like reading something "easy" yet thought provoking. This book just annoyed me. The plot was one that had possibilities: Grant and Eliot are long time partners with a daughter of their own, but they have not committed to marriage. They are raising Grant's older daughters by a previous marriage and while Grant and his ex-wife are friendly, the ex-wife is just not into parenting. Eliot loves all three girls, but is walking the line of how to describe herself. Step-mother? Mother? Wife? Girlfriend? On the surface, it doesn't matter, but this is actually an underlying conflict in the book; especially when a college love interest (Finn) shows back up in Eliot's life. Eliot spends time meeting Finn and talking with him on the phone, but she keeps her activity a secret from Grant. Of course, the story comes out, and while Eliot's contact with Finn has been completely platonic, it is actually that contact that causes Eliot to nearly lose Grant and all three girls when a horrible accident at the beach occurs.First of all, I just didn't like any of the characters. I have no sympathy for women characters who fall all over themselves when a long lost love returns to their lives; especially when that long lost love was really one-sided to begin with, and especially when the long lost love is still shallow and selfish and full of himself the way Finn is. I did not find the Eliot's sisters to be the comic relief that I had thought they might be. Sylvia, with her constant complaints and dramatic behavior came across as a forced attempt at humor. Maggie, the youonger sister, wasn't really developed enough to emerge as a character. I won't even attempt to discuss the girls' mother or father and their strange relationship. Finally, I found Grant to be conflicting. He was a good father, a seemingly good partner for Eliot, and yet his snap decision when tragedy came along annoyed me.As I said, the plot was one that could have given insight to what it would be like to be a partner in a blended family with no defined guidelines of how to be a mother/step-mother/wife/girlfriend, but these characters and the drawn out wishy-washy behavior of Eliot and her college love interest, just didn't come across as realistic to me.
Do You like book I Couldnt Love You More (2000)?
I did like this but saw the characters as flawed and a little bit clichéd.
—sina
Fictional art. An emotional roller coaster. Poignant.
—gaha
Good story, would read another book from her.....
—Bethany
Really well written and gripping story.
—Dawkins88
